24

Tomorrow I will celebrate my 24th birthday. It will be full of laughter and merriment... although I will be woeful about my increasing age.

But tomorrow I will also celebrate something else... that is even more glorious and wonderful and supremely delicious. And do you know what that is? The one year anniversary of my last day of student teaching. I can commemorate the end of all sadness and stress in my life. The past year has been blissful, comparatively. I have a great job outside of the teaching profession. I have great friends. And great possibilities for my future. And I never have to set my eyes on that school again. I still have nightmares about it, honestly. It tortures me. But at least in real life, I don't have to go there. ever. And that is simply the best thought I could have, on my birthday, every year for the rest of my life.

ALSO. Tomorrow pre-sale begins for the epic US concert tour of the one and only One Direction. July 25, 2013, I will be there. And I will buy my tickets tomorrow.

And a random thought:

So I love it when people allow the post on facebook that says they got a new high score on angry birds. I'm like, "CONGRATULATIONS! What a load of time you are wasting on facebook....and angry birds! Your life must be so cool!" and then I remember that I was probably on facebook for the same amount of time... I was just looking at other people's pictures... and then I realize that trying to beat a high score on a dumb game is probably higher than photo stalking on the productive scale. But only just barely.

Once Upon A Time...

... There was a girl named Audrey. She had a best friend named Rachelle.
(look out! This is a really long and cheesy post!)

Audrey and Rachelle first met at the tender age of 14. They were in two straight classes together at Dixie Middle School and bonded daily during their walk to the seminary building across the street. Audrey thought Rachelle was cool because she had a cell phone. Also, she always admired Rachelle's shoes. Rachelle was really smart and did gymnastics, and Audrey wanted to be just like her.

When the two of them were 15 they took a theater class together. Mr. Saxton and the loony drama kids only brought Rachelle and Audrey closer. They competed in the regional and state drama competitions together doing a scene from the "The Odd Couple." It was a really stupid scene. It required Audrey to wear frumpy mom sweats and Rachelle to squelch and scream like an out of control loony bird. Audrey and Rachelle practiced in the basement of the Doxey's house and the squelches could be heard in the upper floors. And when they competed, they somehow found it necessary to carry around like 5 folding chairs and 2 black blocks from room to room as props in their scene. However, dragging the furniture through the hallways at Hurricane High School was nothing compared to the creepy on-looking Hurricane kids. Audrey and Rachelle left the competition with a few mediocre competition scores in addition to confirmed rumors of Hurricane in-breeding.

At the end of their sophomore year Rachelle called Audrey one day with an invitation to go boating. Audrey replied with an exclamation in the affirmative, and Rachelle commented, "I have decided to make you my designated boating buddy, if you don't mind." Audrey didn't mind. She loved spending time with Rachelle, and well, she loved boating.

Several boating trips ensued. Lots of tubing, attempted wake-boarding (on Audrey's part), cliff jumping, more tubing, and an extraordinary amount of merriment accompanied the two.

Senior year, Rachelle and Audrey were in choir and drama together. Audrey was nervous to sing in front of Rachelle because of Rachelle's musical talents ;). Rachelle was somehow able to teach Audrey how to sing alto, and they sat together all year, laughing at the juniors who were really excited about choir and grades (guess who). Oh, those were the days. They also performed in Fiddler on the Roof together; Rachelle playing the lead (because of her talents, of course), and Audrey playing an ensemble role that allowed her to be involved, but still gave her plenty of time to do her homework in the hallway during performances. There was one scene, however, that Audrey and Rachelle were able to participate in together. During Sunrise, Sunset, Audrey and Rachelle always made eye contact and got a little teary when they imagined the show being over, and high school being over, which would eventually lead to their separation.

Rachelle and Audrey also joined each other on several school trips that year, which included the famed Choir Trip, the RASK Urban Experience Trip (of which Rachelle was in charge), and the senior trip to California. Each trip brought the friends closer together. On the Choir trip Rachelle shared her mittens her Audrey. On the RASK trip the friends found a random store in the Trolley Square mall that was selling hourglass sand things that looked really awesome. Because of its fascinating nature, Audrey and Rachelle committed a good 20 minutes of their lives to the device. The California trip was an altogether different bonding experience; Disneyland was a blast, but Magic Mountain was a bust. On the exhausted trip home, Audrey and Rachelle texted awkward and coded messages to Rachelle's boyfriend at the time--messages he still probably hasn't figured out (example: "The moon is bright tonight... with freckles." Rachelle, I hope you remember that one). They thought they were too hilarious for words.

After a year of separation while Rachelle attended her freshman year at BYU and Audey stayed at Dixie State, they decided to be roommates at BYU. Rachelle found them a place to live in Provo, and one day, Audrey took a call and left class to give Rachelle her credit card information to get the contract signed. Audrey had not even officially been accepted into BYU yet; but she wanted to live with Rachelle so bad (and she had no doubt that she was going to get in), that she signed a contract anyway.

...And so began a pattern of Rachelle finding housing for Audrey. Every place that Audrey lived at BYU is credited to Rachelle's finding (and in most cases, Rachelle signed the contract for Audrey while she was away).

It is hard to describe the perfection that was Audrey and Rachelle as roommates, but I shall attempt it in list format.

1) Rachelle helped Audrey function in normal society (example: Rachelle made me stop wearing my CTR ring on my wedding ring finger. Go figure) and Audrey helped Rachelle remember the small but significant details of her life (Rachelle: Audrey, did I pass the AP Bio test? Audrey: Yes, you got a 3. (Audrey distinctly remembers sitting at the Doxey's kitchen counter looking at Rachelle's new macbook and calling the AP Board the moment scores were released)).
 
2) Rachelle and Audrey live very independent lives. They both have their own plans and like to do their own thing. Their daily activities varied greatly; they were on different ends of campus, they had different friend group outside of the roommates, and they had different time-consuming jobs. Somehow, though, they were always able to meet up at bed time to settle in at about the same time. Never had either person known such remarkable and entertaining pillow talk. It kept the pair of them up for hours and hours, way past their bed time. They would lay there in the dark and giggle ("well that's just FANTASTIC!!"), and their roommates would complain and bang on the wall. In their junior year, when they didn't share a room, they enjoyed pillow talk time in the living room, looking up at the Christmas lights that hung around the room all year long.

3) Rachelle was really good at telling Audrey all of her problems, particularly boy problems, and Audrey was really good at listening and supporting, but never telling her what to do. Audrey just knew that there were some things that Rachelle had to figure out on her own (like the fact that she didn't actually like that one boy, and that she knew deep down that she was going to break up with him eventually). Rachelle was always really good at making Audrey spill the beans. Audrey is really bad at talking about her honest feelings. But Rachelle was really good at giving advice and making Audrey feel secure. Rachelle was very good at making Audrey feel good about herself. She was very supportive of everything Audrey did. After Audrey got a good grade on her first test at BYU, Rachelle made her a cake to celebrate.

4) Somehow Rachelle has always been very good at reading Audrey and knowing what she is thinking and feeling, even before Audrey knows it. Exhibit A: When Audrey decided not to go on a mission (against her life plan, mind you), she called Rachelle to tell her. Rachelle calmly responded: "I know." Audrey: "WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me??!" (telling would have saved Audrey a lot of stress and effort). Rachelle: because you needed to figure it our on your own. But Audrey, why do you think I haven't purchased housing for the fall? Because I was waiting for you." Oh Rachelle, always the smart, intuitive one.

And so Audrey and Rachelle lived together at BYU as roommates-- as an old married couple-- that relied on each other for just about everything.

In the meantime, they also did all sorts of other fun stuff.

Rachelle showing off her mad cartwheel skills

They took a vacation together to Washington, D.C., which was only the dream of Audrey's life (see post #1 of this blog). The two of them ran (literally) around Washington for 6 days, seeing a lot more than the average tourists do on their first trip to DC. Audrey realized later, on her other trips to DC, that after what she had seen with Rachelle, there really wasn't that much left. That's how much they saw. They got really sore feet and were very, very exhausted, but were also highly entertained by the common and not-so-common attractions: tourist families with matching plaid shorts, the chipmunks that Rachelle refused to recognize as squirrels ("Aren't they the same thing?!"), and the many reflective surfaces around the city that served as perfect photo-ops.

They spent a week in Palm Desert, California and basked in the sunlight (and got really tan), went to the gym and worked out for a surprisingly long period of time (yay 0 elevation) played board games, watched Ironman way too many times, and made fun of Joshua Tree National Park. Oh yes, and they also went to Tiffany's and looked at diamonds. Rachelle loves diamonds, and Audrey has been lucky enough to be exposed to the world of diamonds through Rachelle. Thanks to Rachelle, Audrey is very well-versed in diamond language.

They exchanged books, movies, and TV shows. Audrey and Rachelle love to talk about books. Audrey likes to read books and then make Rachelle read them. They also enjoyed watching Friends, 30 Rock, and the occasional Gossip Girl episode together. They tried not to watch Gossip Girl most of the time, but it was too addicting.

They developed a list of rules for their life that include the Rule of the Evil Hour of 6, the "It's okay to be late for most things" Rule, and the "You don't actually have to eat meat if you don't want to" Rule. The most-often broken rule, I think, is the one that states, "Always go to bed when you're tired, and sometimes, go to bed before you are tired." The two of them are really bad at going to bed when they are tired. See this post for the other rules, if you are curious.

Rachelle and Audrey are no longer roommates. They can't be. Rachelle went off and got herself a man. And she married him. Audrey was left with other awesome roommates and more adventures to have on her own, but she misses Rachelle.

The truth is, Audrey needs that Rachelle. She just does. And she is so grateful for her friendship. And for the fact that Rachelle really knows Audrey. She understands.

Quick list of other things I love about Rachelle:
1. She has a snuggie.
2. She is a super hard worker. She is not afraid to put in the effort to get what she wants.
3. She has a fantastic shoe collection.
4. She asked for Star Trek for Christmas.
5. She has a different color of hair in like every picture she's in.
6. She was really good at getting me to go to the gym.
7. She likes all sorts of random music. Sometimes she's in a Ne-Yo mood, sometimes All-American Rejects. Sometimes country. But she always like Billy Joel.
8. She listens to all my crazy stuff and just laughs at me.
9. She totally appreciates it when I scrapbook roommate stuff. She always wants to see the new pages I make. That makes all the work worth it. :)
10. She taught me how to rinse everything completely before putting it into the dishwasher. And how to use plates all time. Especially for toast. She hates it when there are crumbs on the counter.
11. One time we bought a hot pad for our kitchen together. Just one of them. Just because.
12. She let me drive her car all the way to St. George once- she was in the passenger seat. She needed a break.
13. She often goes along with my crazy ideas-- but she also puts a check on them too.
14. She leaves really, really long phone messages that I actually really entertaining to listen to.
15. She likes to make piles of clothes like I do. And she never got mad at me when my side of the room was a disaster area (as it often was).

So happy birthday, my darling. And thanks for being you.

THE BEST BIRTHDAY WEEK EVER. Except for finals.

Monday: Okay, fine. So Monday was no fun. I had to write two papers. But we played kickball for FHE!

Tuesday: My birthday!!! YAY! Happy birthday to me! I had to get up early to finish one of my papers, and then finish the other one during my break. It was okay though; a necessary evil. I got to leave campus at 3, and it was the last day of classes, so good news. When I came home I snuggled up on the couch and watched music videos, which is one of my favorite pastimes. My new favorite music videos are Kelly Clarkson, "My Life Would Suck Without You," and Katy Perry, "Thinking of You." Kelly's video is hilarious, and Katy's has Kyle XY in it. :) By the way, I'm sorry, I don't care what anyone says. Kelly Clarkson is amazing and I love her music.

At 7:00pm, I got to watch American Idol! The whole thing! I love American Idol. And I love Matt G. We had some trauma this week. He did not perform to the best of his abilities, but, I still love him, and I still pre-ordered this week's song on iTunes. The recording is amazing, by the way. I encourage everyone to go on iTunes and listen to the clips of his recordings, cause they are the best. If you only listen to one, listen to "Human Nature." Blows me away. I love it. When Meghan and I listen to it in the car, we both kind of melt and she says, "his voice just sounds like heaven," and then I agree, and we talk about how amazing the song is for a while. It happens every time. Anyway, what better day to have a birthday than on a Tuesday that is not only the last day of classes, but is the night of American Idol performances? It was perfect.

After American Idol, we went to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Most of the gang was able to come. We missed Lauren, Lorina and Dani, though. :( I love Old Spaghetti Factory. What other restaurant gives you salad with an amazing house dressing, sourdough bread with delicious butter, your scrumptious meal, AND spumoni ice cream for dessert??? It's the best. AND, it just so happens that on Tuesdays this month they have 40% off part of the menu!! Again, lucky my birthday was on a Tuesday!Following dinner was dancing! I know it's loserish to go to on-campus dances because only freshman go to those, but we just wanted a party and dancing. So, me, Meg, Rachelle, and Ann went. It was actually quite fun, except that they played a lot of dumb music. I requested a song, and the DJ said he didn't have time for it. So I told him it was my birthday. He still didn't play my song. What nerve, right? He even played a slow country song. How rude! :)

So, when the dance ended, we gathered up our stuff, and I realized that somehow, somewhere, I had lost my keys. We wandered around the Wilk for a while asking everyone if they had any keys, and nobody had. After about five minutes of looking, I was starting to freak out a little bit. I needed my car keys! First of all, I just need them to get places! Second, it was my birthday! Third, I was parked in an "A" lot, which means that I would get a ticket if I was still parked there the next morning. Bad news. Fourth, I didn't have a spare key. My mom would have to ship me one from St.G. And fifth, it was POURING rain outside. We were not in very good circumstances. But we decided to go outside and retrace my steps to the car. I was very glad that my mom had just given me a new umbrella and raincoat for my birthday. It was perfect for the dreary occassion. Well, we got out to the car and I noticed that I left my purse in there. Locked in. Meghan saw that her purse was also in there, locked in. So, not only did I have missing keys, but I did not have access to my wallet, my camera, my phone, my iPod, my anything! What is a girl to do in this sort of situation? Well, she calls Dani, who comes to pick everyone up, and tells me to call Campus Police. (801-422-2222). Oh the brains that girl has! The policeman said someone would be by to unlock the door momentarily. Momentarily turned in to like half an hour, but once he got there, the door was unlocked in a jiffy, and miracle of miracles, MY KEYS WERE IN MY PURSE!!! Problem solved, major crisis averted.

So then, we realized that it was like 11:50, and almost not my birthday anymore! I had 10 minutes to gather the gang and blow out my candles on my cake before the birthday magic was gone. So, right when we got home, I called Meg, who had ended up at Lorina and Lauren's, and she called Kyle, and I called Paul, and somehow Kaitlin and Spencer just sensed they needed to be there, so they showed up, and it was a regular party, planned and coordinated within 10 minutes! Rachelle had been in charge of my cake- she got this amazing lemon deliciousness at Costco. I loved it.

All in all, it was a great birthday. Quite eventful.

Wednesday: Reading day of relaxation and no studying, and Pebbles. :) Oh, and that night, we went to Wal-Mart to get stuff for Ashley's shower. And guess what? IT WAS SNOWING. Like, really bad. Major blizzard. On the way back, we couldn't see the freeway AT ALL. It was very hilarious.

Thursday: Me and Meghan actually decided to study. We had to. So, we went to the library at about 10 (the plan had been to get there at 9. Yeah, right.) We stayed until 3, when Kaitlin picked us up to go shopping for Ashley's bridal shower present. We were in and out of Victoria's Secret at Provo Towne Center within like 10 minutes. It was incredible. We had to hurry because I was supposed to go in to work at 4. And I made it! I worked a two hour shift, because then I had to come home for Ashley's shower! Rachelle and Kaitlin planned it, and it was fabulous.

After the shower, me and Meg went back to the library. We studied for approximately 3 more hours. and THEN, the best event of the week! 17 Again!!! the first, premiere, midnight showing. Yeah, so I had a final the next morning at 7am, but you're only young once, right? (haha) Me, Meg, Rachelle, Kaitlin, Dani, Lorina, and Stephanie all went. And I just want to say this: ZAC EFRON IS SO HOT IT'S RIDICULOUS. Ok, I'm done. But seriously, that movie was really really funny. We all loved it, and are all kind of obsessed now. We got home around 2, and I went straight to bed.

Friday: The next morning, I woke up at like 6:15 so I could go over my notes before my test. Yes, I love getting 4 hours of sleep. It really was VERY stupid of me to have done it, BUT SO WORTH IT! I took my test- it was British Lit, and I actually think I did okay on it. It worked out very well. Yay! The rest of the day was serene. I came home and went back to sleep. For a long time. And then I studied for Mission Prep for a couple of hours. That night, I had to work my last shift at Pebbles. Sad day! I was so super tired, though, that I just wanted to go home and had a hard time savoring those last moments behind the register. Oh well. I have a feeling I'm going to be really sad about this in a couple of days when I realize that I really won't be going to work there again anytime soon (or ever again). I have loved working at Pebbles. It has meant so much to me. And I have such good friends there. I love you guys!

Saturday: A very busy day. Me and Meg were supposed to have turned in our Mission Prep final that morning at 8, but at about 1am the night before, we realized that we could turn it in next week instead, so we slept in. That afternoon I had Audrey P.'s baby shower to go to. I got Darbi a ducky hoody towel. I love duckies. And I got a 4th of July dress for a 0-3 month old. Hopefully she'll be the size of a newborn by July!

After the shower I went to Pebbles for our party. I pretended it was my going-away party. Danielle, both Amy's, Stephanie, Stacie, and Keli were there- Audrey P. showed up towards the end. Anyway, it was a very productive night! I got Kaitlin's sign-in book done, and I did like 6 pages for my roommate scrapbook! All in like 5 hours! I know, I'm incredible. I have never done that much in such a short amount of time.

And last, after the Pebbles party, we had our MASSIVE SLEEPOVER! We all finally gathered at around 1Am at Hannah's house. We had our mad dance party and played apples to apples, and had a CRS. It was so much fun, and I just have to say that we are the biggest bunch of nerds ever. I love it! Hannah has a king size mattress on her floor that six of us slept on, and then we blew up a queen air matress for another three girls. Before we went to bed though, we jumped on the beds and sang Celine Dion songs at the top of our lungs. If you didn't already know that we were 2o and 21-year-olds, you probably would have guessed that we were 12. It was a blast, though. I'm really going to miss those girls.

And that is the end of the week. It was a good one. :)

My last post

Okay, so it's not really my last post, but it's the last one I will write when I am still 20 years old. I turn 21 tomorrow, April 14th. I was totally okay about this until just about NOW. I am starting to have second thoughts. The previous okay feeling was very unusual for me. I guess I should have put this on my "Odd things about Aud" list, because I know it's weird. I don't really like having a birthday. (Sidenote: I hate New Years' Eve too). I have never wanted to get older--- I still live by that giraffe from Toys 'R Us that says, "I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys 'R Us kid." I don't like adding another number to my age. When I was at the gym today, and I had to enter my age on the elliptical machine, I thought, "this is the last time I get to enter '20'," and I was sad. I've done the same thing, and have the same thoughts about multiple things the last couple of days. It's very depressing. And you know what 21 means? A lot of scary things. I like actually have to be a grown up now. I'm old enough to go on a mission, and I'm old enough to be completely legal. Super weird.

So, to sum up, I hate getting older, and I hate change. I like things to stay the same all the time. I like them to be good and then stay the same. And I don't want to grow up.

The end. Good bye age 20. You've been good to me. I'll miss ya.